Stun gun question

Exactly what do you mean by "stun gun"? It is a broad term, and it be understood to include Tasers.
http://www.stun-gun-defense-products.com/buy-stun-gun/TASER-Versus-Stun-Gun.html

No. Some stun guns deliver an electrical shock zapping between two electrodes on the device. These electrodes need merely make contact with the recipient, but are not themselves "darts" as found in Tasers.

Agree, stun gun is a terrible term. It doesn't stun, not really.

Yes, a high-voltage electric shock will leave a burn mark.

Google image search for stun gun burn:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=stun...OaigLsgoDYBg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=795

Summonere said:

No. Some stun guns deliver an electrical shock zapping between two electrodes on the device. These electrodes need merely make contact with the recipient, but are not themselves "darts" as found in Tasers.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but the electricity arcing through the skin leaves a burn, not a puncture.

Logander said:

I was thinking of stun guns as pictured here: http://www.thehomesecuritysuperstore.com/stun-guns-c=35

Click to expand...

That's what I assumed.

Yes, they usually leave a burn. The google pics are extreme examples, but it is normal to leave some kind of burn.

Is the person dying from the stun gun? Or is this an incident that occurred earlier and the person is dying from a subsequent, unrelated cause? The difference between the two is significant to your autopsy findings.

Any electrical injury requires an entry and an exit point. Frequently there will be damage to the skin at that point, although not necessarily visible on the exterior. These can range from just barely burns to serious burns. Internally, the electricity passing through organs can leave damage. Realize that even if the entry and exit wounds are next to each other, as in a stun gun, the electricity might travel a much longer course through the body.

Blood values are going to have significant changes from normal, and if death is from electrical shock, there can be damage to the cardiac muscle (heart).

It is possible to have a death from electrical shock, however, with no clear signs as to the cause of death.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Logander said:

I was thinking of stun guns as pictured here: http://www.thehomesecuritysuperstore.com/stun-guns-c=35

Click to expand...

That lists "shooting stun guns" and Tasers among the stun guns. That the electrodes on some shoot out at the target , while others have fixed electrodes isn't a huge difference.

BTW, Drachen is right. An electric arc on one's skin is likely to leave some kind of a burn mark. How much of a mark depends on the power of the arc and the individual's skin.

When I went through stun gun certification in 1993, we used the Nova XR5000 stun gun. It has a stubby U shaped end, with probes sticking forward from the top, and sideways across the bottom of the U arc. A test charge would arc across the bottom two probes.



During our training, we each took about 30 hits. I had lots of welts that were gone a couple of days later. They were no more than 1/4 of an inch in diameter.

Keep in mind that the TASER can be used in what's called "drive stun," where you're just holding the device against the suspect's body, without actually firing the probes. Also, the newer TASERs when fired will eject hundreds of tiny markers with unique serial numbers that can be traced back to the original purchaser of that TASER cartridge.

Cause of death would be blunt force trauma with prior electrical shock. The electric shock would be a contributing cause of death in all probability.

Blood and heart would definitely show signs if the two events are within a minute or two of each other.

Electric burns would be described as consistent with a stun gun. They would be described in diameter and space between, which would enable police to ascertain whether a particular stun gun was consistent with the injury.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe